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Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe has spoken for the first time about his fight against cancer after he was diagnosed last year.

Bolton-born Mark has been battling head and neck cancer - but says he wouldn’t have spotted the signs if he hadn’t decided to shave.

The 60-year-old had “some cancerous tongue and lymph node issues” last year, before taking some time off to undergo treatment.

He says he wouldn’t have spotted the signs if he hadn’t decided to shave.

The broadcaster has praised staff at Manchester’s Christie Hospital and Maggie’s Centre, where he received treatment and support, The Express reports.

“I’d had a beard for a while and thought, ‘Oh it’s too hipster, everyone has a beard now. I’ll go clean shaven’ and as I took it off I noticed something on my neck. I thought it was probably a swollen lymph gland but when we got home I went to my GP, who sent me for an ultrasound.

“One thing led to another and I found myself seeing a specialist for a biopsy and being told I had a cancerous growth in my neck,” he told The Express.

Mark, who had gone to the appointment alone believing there was nothing wrong, says his diagnosis was a shock.

“I had gone to the appointment alone because I didn’t think it was anything important, so I remember them asking: ‘Have you got anyone with you?’ and thinking ‘Oh, bloody hell, why?’”

“Afterwards, I went and sat by the duck pond at Macclesfield Hospital and thought: ‘Well, I’ve something growing inside me’. Physically I felt fine, so I didn’t really panic.”

Mark, 60, announced the news to listeners of his Radio 2 Folk Show in October last year, in a typically low key fashion.

Waiting until the end of the show he told his fans that he had “some cancerous tongue and lymph node issues” and would be “disappearing for a while.

Breaking the news any other way would have ‘seemed a bit grand’ he said.

“Who should give a toss really? But because I was going to be gone for months I just thought honesty was the best policy.”

Tests revealed that the cancer had not spread, but Mark was told he was lucky he saw a doctor so soon.

"Cancer would have killed me in months, not years"

He told The Express: “It’s funny how quickly life changes. When they confirmed that it hadn’t gone elsewhere in my body we were sort of punching the air thinking, ‘Great, I’ve only got cancer in my neck, this is marvellous’.”

He added: “He said the cancer would have killed me in months, not years.

“I was doing a three-hour radio show every day but hadn’t had any discomfort despite having such a large tumour hidden at the back of my tongue. The cancer grows gradually so everything bends and shapes around it. I’d been clearing my throat a bit more but felt fine.”

The presenter - who lives in Knutsford, Cheshire, with his wife Bella - had surgery, six weeks of intensive radiotherapy and two rounds of chemotherapy.

“They took a walnut-sized thing from deep down on the back of my tongue,” he said. “Then from my neck, which was the secondary in the lymph nodes, they took something the size of an apple.

Mark finished treatment last December and found the following weeks to be the most ‘emotionally unstable’.

“It coincided with Christmas being over and January is a cold, dark, miserable time of year anyway, so for me that was the toughest part.

“I dropped into Maggie’s Centre at The Christie [which offers emotional support to people with cancer] and when I sat down the counsellor said, ‘So how are you doing?’ and I just burst into tears, which is unlike me.

“She asked, ‘Have you just finished treatment?’, and said mine was a familiar scenario.

“For six weeks you see the same staff every day who tell you the treatment is going great. I had a rota of friends who would drive me, so we’d have a chat and a cup of tea. You get sort of institutionalised – it’s all quite convivial.

“Then suddenly you’re at home feeling useless, waiting three months for your results. I was a husk of a person.”

After a few months off, Mark returned to the airwaves on Radio 2 in January and reappeared on his 6Music weekend breakfast show with Stuart Maconie a few weeks later.

“I’ve done so much radio that I almost feel my heart rate drop when a show starts, but the week before I started back, I began to worry whether I would have the speed of thought to hold up my end of the conversation. Thankfully that feeling vanished within minutes,” he said.

Before his surgery Mark was warned by medics that his vocal cords might be affected and he was asked to sign a waiver.

“I didn’t have any choice and that’s one of the things that helped me stay positive,” he said

“A lot of the hardest times in life are when you agonise over difficult decisions. They said, ‘This might affect your voice’, which isn’t great for someone who does what I do, but if it’s that or dying then it’s fine, isn’t it? It put everything into perspective.

“My voice wasn’t affected, mercifully. In my head it sounds slightly deeper but on the radio people think it’s the same.”

Mark says radiotherapy has destroyed hair follicles on his face - meaning he won’t be able to grow his beard back. And his saliva glands have been affected too meaning he wakes up with a very dry mouth.

“My taste has fared better than many people’s, but I used to like reasonably hot Indian food and chillies,” he said. “Now anything spicy is agony so I eat quite bland food. It’s a small price to pay.”

He added: “I couldn’t eat for a long time. At first, after the operation, swallowing was agony, so for days I just had protein shakes.

“But I managed to eat enough that they didn’t put a feeding tube in and I’m glad I avoided that. I remember having tiny bowls of soft stuff like moussaka and shepherd’s pie and my wife saying, ‘Come on, have another mouthful’, but I also felt so sick from the chemo. It was really hard.

“It meant I got out of the habit of eating lots. I still have three meals a day, so my oncologist isn’t worried. And while I wouldn’t recommend it as a diet plan, I enjoy being thinner. I feel really well.”

Mark, who is now in remission, is supporting North West Cancer Research’s head and neck cancer campaign #SpeakOut - which aims to raise awareness among men, who are three times more likely to be diagnosed with the cancer but often ignore early signs.

“It’s a euphoric feeling to think I haven’t any of that crap in me any more,” he said. “I’m on a six-month check-up, which I think is a good sign. There’s no reason to believe I should get it again but if I do, at least we will be on it early.”

Mark adds: “Don’t think you’re being tough by not getting things checked out, or assuming it’s nothing and not bothering going to the doctors. If you are even slightly worried about anything, check it out. Honestly, why wouldn’t you?”

Symptoms of head and neck cancer include a persistent sore throat, the feeling of a lump in the throat, mouth ulcers that do not heal after three weeks, a hoarse voice for longer than four weeks, blood in your spit and difficulty swallowing.